I started eating better and had dropped down to 118kg by October 2013. A had a relationship break up. I got home and looked in the mirror, I was angry, upset at myself, not for my weight, for the person who I let myself become. I trusted a girl I should of never, I let myself love this girl when it was clear she is not the sort of girl I would usually date. but we learn from our mistakes.

When I was also taking a long hard look at myself, I said, I'm a fat ass! Let's fix that!

By 1st of Feb this year, I weight in at 78.2kg. A loss of 54.3kg in total. What a change!

But I was still stupid, my ex wanted me back and I said yes, that last 4 months and we separated only 3 weeks ago. During those 4 months I had gained back a lot of weight, scales were sitting at 100kg!

Thought to myself, why did I do this, why I let myself go again!

Back onto I though, and 3 weeks later the scales now read 82.1kg this morning. A staggering 18kg loss in 3 weeks, don't ask me how, I changed my eating again, more protein, less carbs, healthier choices and 10km brisk walk/run every night.

I am now 4kg off my goal weight, I am nearly there again, slowed up a lot now of cause, but it is in arms reach and I know i can do this. Everyone keeps saying to me I am skinny enough, blaa blaa blaa. But I am still over weight going by BMI, I am 180cm tall.

This time I discovered Kangaroo meat, I love it! That and some eggs make a nice all protein meal with not a lot of fat!

Certainly sounds like you know the mechanics behind losing weight. But as you have discovered it isn't just about losing weight - it is about getting together a healthy lifestyle that is bullet proofed from the ups and downs that life can throw at us. Here at the Forum you will find people who can offer a few clues, helpful advice and encouragement to achieve that end so that you will equipped to keep the weight off forever.

The last few kilos are definitely the hardest. You will have to dig deep and review everything that you are doing. Usually towards the end of the journey a few bad habits slip in unnoticed. You may find yourself, for example, exercising madly only to realise that it is going towards that "extra" snacking you have been having to fuel your extra exercise! My last 4 kilos took nearly two months to nail down before I got on top of the situation. Once I got tired of just bouncing around, knuckled down and got back on track - it took next to no time to reach goal.

Your family and friends will say this to you because they aren't use to the "new" you yet. Just like before when you were heavy their minds (and yours) knocked off a few kilos so that you didn't seem as fat as you actually were; so now visually to them you "look wrong". That is why you have to use the health charts as a guide. The mind is too tricky to judge dispassionately.

Concerning health charts...use them with care. These charts are normal healthy people charts. Because you have lost over 50 kilos you may have a lot of loose skin whose weight may make the "average" unreliable for you. The good charts give you a healthy range...because of loose skin weight you will want to be at the high end of that range scale. The range scale (between being overweight and underweight) for me for example is 50kg to 70kg. Most of the experts recommending around a little over 63kg as about the healthiest for my height. When I set my goal for weight loss I thought 66.7kg would be a nice conservative number (why .7? Because my starting weight was 153.7kg...so it would be an even 87kg that I had to lose). What I didn't factor in was loose skin weight. I reached my goal weight (only because of bloody mindedness) but knew that it was too low. After reaching goal I settled for a sitting healthy range of between 67kg to 70kg with it mostly being at the upper range of that. That way I was just sitting on my upper limit BMI. Remember BMI number is only a guide. Most muscle bound athletes are over their BMI's because muscle weighs more than fat. In our case...loose skin (and the muscle we have gained from exercising so obsessively) have also made that number unreliable.

Looking forward to you completing your journey here and watching you learn how to main your weight so that you will have a better future - forever.

What an amazing story, and tremendous loss, you should be VERY proud of yourself; good on you!!! You've done it before, and I'm sure you'll reach goal again soon. And it sounds like the quickest and most effective loss was ditching your ex!!!

I'm sure you'll find someone that will treat you right, and give you the love you deserve.

I wish you all the best with your journey, and I look forward to hearing more about your successes!!

Having a bit of trouble with mental exhaustion. Not sure how to approach it.

I only do 5km now each night, try to run as much as possible, it has been hard, so tired and exhausted, mainly mentally. I have been trying to relax a little more, not stress about losing the last few kg's. It will come.

Weighed in this morning at 80.95kg. So still losing it nicely. And at that weight I am no longer classed as over weight. At 180cm tall to be exactly 25 BMI is 81kg. So 50grams under that. 3kg to go.

Has anyone else had mental exhaustion? How did you approach it?

I have been doing more pushups, going to start planks today too. And still only a 5km walk/job..

Nice going mate, as you can see by my sig my problem has been keeping it off no matter how well intentioned you are you have to make the effort whilst at Maint and forever, this is not something you can just put away, say you're finished with and go back to what you have always done..

As for the relationship, sounds to me like you want to just let it go.. Some things are just not meant to be, good luck with all areas of your life going forward..

Yeah - know all about that mental exhaustion. Towards the end I hit what I described as a wall. After that it was just hard slogging. The last 5 kilos was the worst of it. I said to my wife around then that I had enough of it...enough of the grind. She said that I had come so far and not to give up. I replied I had no thoughts of giving up - just that I was feeling the tough going of it.

This is where a lot of people fall down in this journey. They are getting fit. Their health has improved greatly. Friends are telling them that they look great and that they should stop. But don't be fooled into complacency. You need to finish the job that you have started. Once completed, then comes part two of the journey - maintenance. Don't worry about that yet though...it is a lot easier than you think...and much less pressure.

With exercise, more is not more. You will find that you will get more benefit varying the intensity of your sessions rather then adding more exercise. Routine is the enemy of weight loss exercising. Try the formula; one day moderate exercise, next day hard exercise and follow that with a "easy" day. This will keep your body's metabolism on its toes without grinding you into the ground.

At this stage of the game, watch carefully your snacking. Generally what happens the increase in exercising leads to increase in the snacking. So you end up exhausting yourself on extra exercising which is just going on the extra snacking.

Will keep the last para in mind, not that I think I'm doing it all the time but most definately on my naughty weekends for sure, so it's a bit of a two edged sword, it can be interpreted the way you describe but also be used to your advantage when planning on straying a little.. Which I'm an expert in..

It is a delicate balance - that is why drifting into bad habits is easy to do...it kind of creeps up on you without you consciously realising it. When things start to go wrong for me I've learnt that this is the first area to check list - and it usually is the culprit.

Have you put much thought towards the maintenance side of your journey? After all - you don't want to be doing this weight loss thing again and again. What sort of strategies are you planning to help you keep on the straight and narrow?

I will eating 2000 calories a day, that is a lot of food if i eat healthy, I will introduce foods like sandwiches (healthy ones), and not be afraid to eat carbs. I will eat bigger breakfast, more oats or weet-bix than I do now. At this present time I am more restrictive on carbs and calories until my goal is met.

For dinner I will still continue to eat Kangaroo meat, I love it, favorite meat so I see no need to change. I will continue to eat vegetables, and maybe still even have all protein dinner as I do now (kangaroo meat and eggs).

Not a whole lot will change, I will still eat the things I do now, just a bit more of it, more fruit and so forth.

I am rather restrictive on calories, about 1200 a day at present (today I had 1300-1400). My target will be 1800-2000. And I will still do a 5km job every night. I probably be burning close to 3000 a day. That 1000 calories spare will be used up with 1-2 bad meals a week, if I want KFC, I will get it, if I want McDonalds I will get that too, even if it is a large meal and extra burger (1400 Calories). Even a KFC Zinger box up sized with extra crispy strips hit around 1600 Calories I think. But if I leave 1000 a day, that is 7000 per week less than maintenance. Enough to cover those bad meals with a little interest.

That is the plan, still enjoy my food as I have always done, but do it smartly.

Last 7 days I have burnt 4800 calories through exercise, my job is on my feet a bit, plus 1.2km to work and back on foot. So without exercise I would burn 2227/day (http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php), That is based on desk job, which I am on my feet a little more than that. I am eating 1500 at most. That is 727 per day free with no exercise, average exercise is burning 685 NET Calories, total for day 2912 Calories. But in my calculations my BMR is 1750 Net, if I laid in bed all day and never moved. That is 72 calories per hour, I would have to subtract that from anything burned to find proper NET amount. A 10 jog/brisk walk burns 748 Calories in 87 Minutes, 104 calories would of be burnt if I did nothing, so subtract that from 748 gives me 644.

My 5km jog (I will be doing when finished, no 10km) burns half of that 322 Calories NET. So 2227 + 322 = 2549 Calories burned per day, usual day with work and 5km exercise every night. Keep in mind my job is a little more on my feet and I walk to work 1.2km each way. So probably add another 150 Calories.

2549 + 150 = 2699 Calories per day is what I will be burning if you understand my math. That is NET result.

If I eat 2000, I have 699 spare x 7 = 4893 Calories per week for food I enjoy. I won't push that all the way, I will say try to have 3000 per week on Calories of that I enjoy. If it is cake, so be it, KFC, so be it. I will leave that 1893 Calories free for days when I do not work, where my base BMR might be lower than 2227. But I will still exercise those days.

AndyJ wrote:If I eat 2000, I have 699 spare x 7 = 4893 Calories per week for food I enjoy. I won't push that all the way, I will say try to have 3000 per week on Calories of that I enjoy. If it is cake, so be it, KFC, so be it. I will leave that 1893 Calories free for days when I do not work, where my base BMR might be lower than 2227. But I will still exercise those days.

Well you certainly got the maths down! Never been that good with numbers that is why I use an accountant...give him my books each quarter and tell him not to hurt me! I've never bothered to count calories...to much hard work!

You've got the food and exercise part well and truly organised but the bit that I would worry about is the head part. You've "fallen off the wagon" once before...what measures have you taken to make sure that it doesn't happen again? What are your accountability standards? What are your checks and balances? What lifestyle markers are going to keep you on the straight and narrow? Something to consider.